DHAKA: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on a report from the independent news outlet Dozhd on Sunday that said Russian president Vladimir Putin had not been in Moscow for the last several days.

Putin, who has not been seen in public or on live television broadcasts for more than a week, postponed a meeting with Kazakh and Belarussian leaders last week.

Sources told Dozhd that the president was at his residence on Lake Valdai in Novgorod province. Peskov declined to comment when contacted by Dozhd, reports The Straits Times.

A Kazakh government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the media that Putin may have cancelled the summit with the Belarussian and Kazakh leaders because of illness.

BDST: 2112 HRS, MAR 15, 2015